King Charles Has Banned This Dish from All Royal Residences

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published 20 November 2022

It will be a busy week at Buckingham Palace as King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla host the new monarch’s first state visit, welcoming South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and his wife, Dr. Tshepo Motsepe, to the U.K. The tiaras will come out on Tuesday as Charles and Camilla are set to host a state banquet at the Palace in their honor—but, The Sun reports, we can expect one dish to absolutely not be on the menu for the occasion.

Not only will we not see foie gras make an appearance this week but, as long as Charles as king, we likely never will—in a letter from the Palace to animal rights campaigners, it has been confirmed that the dish has been banned at all royal residences, including Buckingham Palace. (Foie gras is made from the liver of a duck or goose.)

“The monarch is understood to be a longstanding opponent of the food, and many campaigners say the process of making the product is cruel,” The Sun reports. It’s almost too gross to get into, but, according to the outlet, “foie gras is made from livers that have become abnormally enlarged from a disease called hepatic steatosis, caused by force-feeding the birds large amounts of food.”

'The King: The Life of Charles III' by Christopher Andersen

The South African delegation is the first to visit the British Royal Family for a state visit, unbelievably, since former U.S. President Donald Trump visited the U.K. in 2019. (The pandemic has prevented any state visits from occurring since.) The South African state visit was in the diary prior to Queen Elizabeth’s death on September 8 and marks the first Charles has hosted in his own right as reigning sovereign.

In addition to Charles and Camilla, the new Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Catherine, will play a prominent role this week in hosting the first couple of South Africa, People reports.

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.